Delaware GOP candidate indicted on sex-with-minor charges

By Lou Chibbaro, Jr.

A Republican candidate for the Delaware State Senate who boasted of being a member of the anti-gay Delaware Family Policy Council was indicted this week on multiple charges of engaging in unlawful sex acts with a 13-year-old boy.

The indictment came less than a week after Eric Bodenweiser, 53, abruptly dropped out of his race for a State Senate seat in a conservative-leaning district near Rehoboth Beach that includes the City of Georgetown.

The indictment includes 113 felony sex charges, including 39 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse — first-degree and 74 counts of unlawful sexual contact — second-degree. Although the indictment doesn’t identify the gender of the victim, the Gape Gazette identified the victim as a boy who allegedly was sexually abused by Bodenweiser between Oct. 1, 1987 and Aug. 31, 1990 when he was between the ages of 10 and 13.

Jason Miller, a spokesperson for the Delaware Attorney General’s office, which is prosecuting the case, said the victim, who is now in his 30s, has spoken to the media and revealed details not disclosed in the indictment but which are expected to surface at a trial.

The Cape Gazette reports that Bodenweiser was released on $250,000 secured bail while he awaits trial.

Among those who had endorsed Bodenweiser in his State Senate race was Christine O’Donnell, the 2010 Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Delaware.

Democratic candidate Jane Hovington, who was expected to lose to Bodenweiser by a wide margin, is now the only candidate on the ballot in the race for the 19th Senate district. She is being challenged by Republican former Georgetown Mayor Brian Pettyjohn, who is running as a write-in candidate.